Abstract

This article explores the transformation of 1960s internationalism into a preoccupation with urban relations in the increasingly international city of Paris as it is reflected in the work of François Maspero. It considers whether peripheral communities continue to be identified with the potential for social and political renewal, and charts the way in which Maspero structures his interaction with the suburban Other. It compares this interaction with the well-known pose of the flâneur, which is both intimately associated with Paris and more generally perceived as emblematic of a self-consciously modern way of negotiating the city. In so doing it assesses the political ambitions of Maspero's recent works and considers to what extent they continue a mode of militant intellectual action generally perceived to have ended in the wake of May 1968.

pdf

Share